Category: Healing Narcissistic Abuse

The following article from Kim Saeed highlights the seven needs of healthy parenting that cannot be provided for a child in a narcissistic home. Such deficits lead to lasting injury and deficits, wounding deeply our capacity to develop healthy self esteem, self awareness and boundaries. Kim’s blog is an excellent resource for healing.

Being held hostage by an inner persectuor-protector figure in our inner world is common for those of us who were highly sensitive and suffered significant childhood trauma or insecure, anxious or broken attachments. It is an issue dealt with comprehensively by Elaine Aron in her book The Undervalued Self. In chapter six of the book she outlines what this inner complex is and why it exists drawing on the work of psychological analyst Donald Kalsched. (See my previous post :

The Persecutor-Protector needs to be understood and worked with by those of us who want to stop isolating in fantasy totally (not that we won’t still want to introvert which is important for the creative amongst us and for touching base with our inner world and life) and convincing ourselves we are not skilled or gifted enough to have a valuable contribution to make to the world.

I will open this post with a quote taken from Elaine’s book.

A protector-persecutor that arises from insecure attachment is often the harshest. In these cases the protector may replace the missing maternal or paternal presence with an addiction, whether to smoking, alcohol, work, or something else. Or it may create a vision of perfect love the child never received. It encourages the unbearable craving and yearning while undermining or belittling things in the world that may actually satisfy some of the craving. It says they are not enough, or not real, just lies or illusions, or will not work out in the long run.

Since attachment trauma often involves an unbearable separation, such as divorce or the death of a parent, the protector-persecutor very often rules out love because it brings the risk of loss, which, it supposes, you cannot bear, as you could not when it happened before. Until you work out your own answer to these scenarios, it’s impossible to convince the persecutor-protector that you can live with the pain of separations and loss, that you can tolerate in future what you could not in the past…..

(however) the good news is that as you struggle to accept the fact that all relationships eventually end, you may become far more prepared for loss than those who are secure because they had good childhoods.

When the persecutor-protector keeps you from being intimate with someone you love, do not give up. Freeing yourself to love is perhaps one of the greatest challenges a person with a troubled past can face, and even a partial victory must be acknowledged for the triumph that it is. Further, the undervalued self simply cannot be healed without finding some freedom to love. It is linking and love that take you out of ranking and undervaluing.

The protector-persecutor either as a unit or in one of its two forms, tries to break down every link you make, both outer links with friends and inner links that would end the dissociation it wishes to maintain. However, you can see why your attempts to dialogue with the innocent (inner child) might lead to mysterious resistance.

Emotions, memories, current thoughts and behaviours, and bodily states related to a trauma can all be dissociated. Memories may be repressed, literally unlinked from consciousness. Or your emotions may not be linked to current memories or events. You may feel numb, lacking all emotion, or all too conscious of emotions that seem to arise for no reason. Your body may be unlinked from memories, so you remember the events of the trauma but have no idea what happened to your body during it. Your body will still be dissociated from your thoughts, with the result that you are hardly aware of its needs. Or the body does not link with your actions, and you feel unreal or detached as you go through the day….you do things that make no sense or are self destructive but your behaviour is not linked to its real causes. You may have stress related illnesses because memories, feelings, or thoughts are pushed down in the mind then arise in the body. Or you may have recurring nightmares that seem unrelated to anything going on in your life.

As for outer links the persecutor-protector makes every linking situation seem to be about ranking, usually with you as the inferior, although it can also make you feel superior – “he’s not good enough for me” – if that will keep you out of a real, close, lasting relationship. The persecutor-protector might allow you to link in a limited way with someone who likes you by creating a false self that adapts to the world, but you know you are not really connected or authentic.

Using examples from her real practice Aron shows how clients dreams often contain persecutor figures and details the means it uses to break links, just as the witch in the fairytale of Rapunzel tries to disconnect the prince from ever reaching Rapunzel in her tower by cutting off her long hair. This occurs due the prevalence of earlier losses that were never fully integrated into conscious awareness and the fear of not being able to survive the feelings should it ever happen again.

We can work to become more aware of how the complex operates in our own lives. Some of these are listed below and appear in Aron’s book and they correspond to some of the tactics avoidants or insecure people use to maintain distance or sabotage relationships with others:

When we are supercritical of the other, especially after times of connection.

When we over idealise to the degree that minor failures are blown out of proportion.

When we mistrust or don’t bother to get a reality check or talk things over

When you feel crushed if someone doesn’t want to be with you all the time.

When you look down on others for wanting to be with you more than you want to be with them.

When you decide “it’s all over” as soon as there is the slightest conflict.

When you are obsessed with concerns one of you is needy, dependent, or weak.

When you cannot stop thinking about the other leaving or betraying you or dying.

When you cannot see any flaw at all in the others, as if he or she is a god.

In addition Aron outlines some of the unconscious rules the persecutor-protector can use to keep us safe.

No intimacy. Never open up about personal issues, ignore or belittle the disclosures of others, be flippant or rude, leave if someone wants to be closer

No arguing. Always be nice, end relationships as soon as there is a whiff of conflict or if the other is angry, walk out on arguments (rather than asking for time out)

No growth. Turn down opportunities or invitations to do anything new, do not aspire, act stupid so no one will think of you when an opportunity arises.

No dating or marriage. Postpone, be unattractive, stick to crushes or fantasies, say with someone who isn’t good for you, have affairs with unavailable people, be forever young or flirty when it’s not necessary.

No strong feelings. Stay in control at all times, don’t cry, get angry, be terminally cool.

No sex or enjoyment of it. Avoid, be mechanical, split off, get numb with substances before hand, remove all emotion from sex.

No believing someone who say he or she cares about you. Bat off compliments and expressions of caring and affection. Don’t believe they are genuine.

No asking for help. Be ruthlessly self sufficient, be suspicious, never complain, withdraw.

No honesty. Just say what you think others want to hear. Be careful with what you express especially when asked to be yourself.

No hope. Don`t expect help, joy or good things. Do not place faith in anyone.

No standing up for yourself. Just let others say or do whatever they want, don’t cause trouble, don’t expect justice, respect or fairness.

No trusting. Don’t be fooled; they don’t really care about you (a favourite thing the protector will say to you inwardly.)

As you can see its a pretty harsh joyless confined existence living with a strong persecutor protector complex inside of us, but we can work to understand these rules and challenge the p-p on them when it tries to use them to keep ourselves and others in line.

Your goal is to convince the p-p that breaking its rules and taking risks is working out for you and that you want more freedom…

Listen to its disagreements because ignoring it wont work according to Aron… the p-p needs to be heard but challenged to give up the limiting rules and restrictions it uses to keep you trapped.

the experience of horror (in childhood) makes one question one’s sanity. What one is experiencing does not make sense, it doesn’t accord with one’s image of reality which even a baby has on a biological level. To avoid the resulting mental confusion, one must dissociate and deny all feelings. As long as one sticks to logic, one is safe. But feelings are life, and one cannot fully avoid emotional experiences no matter how coolly one plays it. The narcissist faces the risk of being overwhelmed by feelings and going wild, crazy, or mad, should his defence of denial break down. This is especially true of anger. Every narcissist is afraid of going crazy, because the potential for insanity is in his personality. This fear reinforces the denial of feeling creating a vicious cycle.

Reading the above paragraph again in Lowen’s book today gave me more insight into my brother, who threatened to walk out on me last October when I got angry with him. It reminded me of terrifying incidents he faced in childhood and of how my father did pretty harsh things to him as a boy as his own childhood had been similarly harsh. I was in tears again last week after yet another conversation with my brother where we was working as hard as he could to split off all expression of emotion. I usually leave every interaction with him crying or disturbed in some way. Now instead of feeling angry I just feel really sad for him as I don’t ever think he will look at the roots of his own workaholism. Once again I shed heaps of tears after I got off the phone on Thursday. It is not that he is an unkind person either, all time the conversation revolved around helping my sister and I to get the best interest possible on the money Mum has left us.

It is now never the less a great comfort to me to be able to say I now know I am not crazy and I know why his side of the family have sidelined me before as well as other members of my family, looking upon us with such distain and disapproval due to our emotions. That said I am also aware of the charge of anger that I have carried which I know I inherited from my mother’s side of the family.

Collapsing into a state of helplessness may be one response to such terror or violence in childhood. Flight or fight may be two other responses but both the later would often be blocked by an abusive parents. Escaping or fighting back may be shamed or made impossible as was the case of Bill whose story Lowen covers in Chapter 7 of this book.

Bill did not feel any anger. He denied his anger, just as he denied his fear. Instead, he adopted an attitude of submission and attempted to understand the irrational behaviour of his father, and others, His submission to his father may have had a lifesaving value, but almost cost him his life. (Bill was later on nearly killed by a hitchhiker he and a friend picked up on the side of the road who began to attack them.)

Lowen explains how Bill then came to fear his own anger.

(he).. believed that if he lost his head he might kill someone. But to lose your head is equivalent to going crazy. Bill was terrified of the potential craziness in himself as he was of the craziness of others. When I made this interpretation to him he remarked, “Now I know why I became a psychiatrist.”

Not everyone will be able to contain their rage from such incidents, others will act it out. Lowen tells the story of David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam”, serial killer who murdered 6 and wounded 7 others.

What then are the dynamics that precipitate a seemingly sane person into insane action? … there must be some subconscious force.. This force is the denied feeling of anger. Because the anger is denied, it is not experienced, which would give he person some control over it.

Many narcissists develop an ego unconscious split in these circumstance which means at times such subconscious forces can erupt and cause havoc or be projected on others. Such and effect is called flooding…. an overwhelming feeling or excitation which ..”(temporarily drowns us)…in the torrent of sensation. Imagine a river overflowing its banks and sweeping across the surrounding country side. In a similar way the gush of feeling wipes out normal boundaries of the self, making it difficult for the person to distinguish between inner and outer reality. Reality becomes confused and nebulous….. (there is a sense of) nothing solid to cling on to. The person feels ‘at sea,’ estranged.

Such estrangement is not dissimilar to dissociation although Lowen compares it to disorientation. The flooding of something we held down can make us dizzy, it may erase normal consciousness for a time. It may well be what we experience in a panic attack (repressed or split off lively life energy or anger). We can also be overwhelmed by pleasant sensations and if our sense of happiness or joy was also supressed or shamed in childhood we can begin to get fearful of insanity when we start to feel energised or even happy.

In the bioenergetic therapy Lowen used feelings which have been repressed or shut down are helped to liberate by the therapist who assists in the process so flooding and disorientation is not as intense as it would be if we were misunderstood or unsupported in the process.

The problem is that those damaged in childhood continue to carry split off emotions such as anger and sadness into adulthood, we may even attract relationships with others who act them out for us or vice versa, one partner can then pretend they are okay, it’s just their partner that is the problem.

Lowen points out in his book Narcissism : Denial of the True Self the connection between being called ‘mad’ (as in insane) when one is actually angry.

To say a person is mad may mean that person is either crazy or angry. What this tells us is that anger is not an acceptable emotion. Children are taught very early on to curb their anger; often they are punished if, in the course of an angry reaction, they hurt someone. Disputes, they are admonished should be settled amicably and with words. The ideal is to have reason prevail over action.

But conflicts can not always be settled amicably, with reasoning. Tempers may flare. I don’t mean one has to resort to physical violence to express an angry feeling. Anger can be expressed in a look or by the tone of one;s voice. Once can assert with feeling. “I am angry with you.” Some situations do call for the physical expression of anger. If violence is used on you it may be appropriate to fight back. Without the right to strike when one is hit, one feels powerless and humiliated. We have seen what that can do to the personality.

I strongly believe that if children were allowed to voice their anger at their parent’s whenever they felt they had a legitimate grievance, we would see far fewer narcissistic personalities. Giving a child this right would allow a real respect for the child’s feelings.

Lowen goes on to site an experience of watching a Japanese woman being hit by her daughter in anger. He explains how in Japan a child is never disciplined before the age of 6 because they are regarded to be innocent and such children don’t end up disrespectful or misbehaving. However when the right of angry expression is denied a child it has an adverse impact and then there are the parents who cannot express their own anger with a child in a healthy way and use punishment instead. Lowen doesn’t negate the need for discipline, only the use of power and control in the face of a child the parent does not have a healthy way of relating to and helping to develop emotionally.

Such repression of anger in a person in childhood means anger stays present in the person’s system much later in life. In his bioenergetic therapy Lowen helps patient to discharge repressed anger so that it does not stay trapped inside. However as he points out, the fear of ones anger and belief it will prove one is insane is a difficulty that many narcissistically injured person’s face on the path to healing.

For narcissists to know themselves, they have to acknowledge their fear of insanity and to sense the murderous rage inside that they identify with insanity. But they can only do this if the therapist is aware of those elements and is not afraid of them. I find it helpful to point out to my patients that what they believe is insane – namely, their anger – is in fact sense if they can accept it. In contrast, their behaviour without feeling, which they regard as sane,is really crazy.

The behaviour without feeling that Lowen mentions here in fact leads to the growing or development of what he calls a thick skin, a protective defensive layer which will allow no real feeling for self or others in those with a narcissistic defence,

such denial is achieved by deadening the surface to stimuli, its effect is to rigidify the ego. … the result is a diminishing of the ego’s capacity to respond emotionally to reality or to change reality in line with one’s feelings.. the ego’s safety lies in a deadened body, with little emotion. Yet this very deadening creates a hunger for sensation, leading to the hedonism typical of a narcissistic culture.

But true feeling is then increasingly hidden behind a façade and the building charge of need and hidden feeling is defended against. Thus addictions come to play a role in diverting attention from the truth.

By contrast those who develop a borderline defence to such negation actually become excessively thin skinned, unable to throw off hurts lodged deep inside from the past often from unfeeling narcissists. Their work is to understand the source of pain and not project it onto the present, understanding how deeply its roots lie hidden in an often unconscious past.

It took me a long time to understand and heal from falling in love with a person who had narcissism around 11 years ago. I was in the relationship for just under 4 tough years and was often subject to the silent treatment. He would throw a tantrum and walk out on me, or if I was also in an angry state which (at that stage of my wounded psychological development, expressing repressed feelings was impossible) he would also immediately walk out and not speak to me for days. I would get so terrified and triggered into my abandonment depression that I would bel literally begging for any kind of contact and to get it I had to admit how wrong and bad I was. I look back now and even writing about it is retraumatising all these years later.

It is next to impossible to explain to someone who has secure attachment how extremely annihilating and traumatising being left in this way or given the silent treatment is for someone with insecure or unstable attachment trauma is.

Anyway after he dumped me just under 8 years ago I finally got help and I was lucky enough to come across the work of Kim Saeed on this site who herself has recovered from a traumatising relationship with a narcissist and now does healing and provides information for others who suffer. Her site is well worth a look and today I am sharing this post on the effects of the silent treatment, to help anyone who is on the receiving end of it. Its also something my mother used on me more than once and left me so, so deeply fearful and insecure as a teenager and young adult.

There is nothing worse for a child than having our inner reality undermined. Being told “no you don’t feel that way” “just get over it” “that didn’t hurt, you are such a baby” and worse things and this is the legacy sadly of those brought up in narcissistic homes. Children raised in these homes learn to shut up and repress the reality of their True Self pretty quickly (especially anger which goes along with invalidation abuse but has to be supressed for us to survive). We carry great fear and there is never really any freedom to take an unimpeded breath. For those of us who meet partners in life later who aren’t this way and want to see, hear, validate and love us as we are, the struggle to trust is even harder. IT IS something therapist and author Janet Woitiz deals with in her book The Intimacy Struggle which I have had for years but am rereading now I am in a new relationship that is so vastly different to the old ones.

There are ten fears that Janet outlines which hit the nail on the head for me lately. Children from alcoholic or narcissistic and emotionally neglectful homes often will detonate a relationship that offers them exactly what they need as soon as it gets close and intimate, its due to a profound fear of abandonment we cannot often even fully admit to ourselves. Partners of such people go through shock and confusion as the one they love acts out, especially after a time of closeness and connection. The adult child will quickly pull the rug out from under such closeness by starting a fight, disappearing or going disconnected in some way, all due to not being able to stand the heat of their own feelings of sadness and longing for what they were denied needing or wanting from a young age which are evoked in intimate relationships. As pointed out by Robert Firestone who has done a lot of work with inner voices and the inner critic often we will start to hear criticisms and doubts in our heads when intimacy threatens us putting ourselves or the other person down if we carry past unresolved attachment wounds. Its something addressed too in the book on attachment by therapists Amir Levine and Rachel Heller ‘Attached : The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find – And Keep Love.

Its helpful to know when our fear of intimacy is being evoked. It may not always stop us acting out but it will start to bring awareness which is the first step, then maybe we can have a talk to our partner about it later if we can be honest and they are open. Partners of adult children of trauma, addiction or neglect can also educate themselves to the vulnerabilities of their partners if they don’t suffer this way and are more securely attached.

Below is a list of fears which Janet Woitiz outlines in her excellent book.

Adult Children fear hurting others due to their own pain and sensitivity. They make excellent loyal partners for this reason but such fear may make them into people pleasers because their fear of conflict is so high.

Adult Children fear the person others see them to be does not exist. They were not able to be their full selves and were never unconditionally accepted.

Adult Children fear they will lose control if they love someone or connect with them, often due to the fact their homes were out of control or they had overly controlling parents.

Adult Children will deny things hurt or matter, its a defensive approach to make themselves appear bullet proof and deny their vulnerability which was never safe before.

Adult Children fear any love given is not real, things going well is so unfamiliar to them it seems unreal since all they knew growing up was chaos. High drama doesn’t go along with a healthy relationship and they never experienced peaceful connected relating so they have no template for it.

Adult Children fear their anger when exposed will lead to abandonment. They have a power keg of it anyway due to the way they were treated growing up. They have difficulty asking for help then get upset if partners don’t mind read due to a fear of expressing needs.

Adult Children feel shame for being themselves and they feel responsible for everything that went wrong in their families. This is unrealistic but its very true for them. So how could you love them when they are so bad?

Adult Children fear that if you really get to know them you will find out they are unlovable. They were probably led to believe this anyway due to the way they were treated or blamed for things growing up that were not their fault. They often feel failures that they could not fix their dysfunctional family.

Adult Children have difficulty tolerating the discomfort that is a natural part of getting close to others. Feelings naturally get stirred up with intimacy and adult children fear their feelings or don’t really know how to deal with them so often they cut and run.

Adult Children fear they will be left and this fear harks back to their history. It is important these fears are not discounted and that a loving partner gives them constant reassurance, they didn’t ask to be abandoned growing up, it wasn’t their fault and they don’t “have to get over it”. Their fear needs to be understood and soothed until they can learn to trust in a present that is profoundly different to their traumatic past.

The following extract comes from Tara Brach’s book True Refuge : Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart. Interestingly it concerns a woman who Tara was working with in therapy who as a young child had her long hair cut off by her mother as it was too much bother. I was sharing in a post a few days ago how this also happened to me and the trauma of it was felt when I went to the hairdresser late last week following my Mum’s death. The woman in question, Jane, had also had her mother die a few years before the time she was seeing Tara. In therapy she was sharing how the pain of this event had awakened in her heart through intense feelings of fear, felt as a claw “pulling and tearing at my heart”. What followed was an outburst of anger towards her mother for subjecting Jane to this ordeal.

The anger soon turned into deep sadness as Tara worked with Jane encouraging her to feel the pain and grief deeply in her body, and in time it transformed into peace. Jane had reached some deeply powerful realisations as a result.

Brach writes the following in her book :

Carl Jung wrote, “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived life of the parents.” The outer domain of our unlived life includes all the places where we’ve held back from pursuing and manifesting our potential – in education and career, in relationships and creativity. But it is the inner domain of our unlived life that sets this suffering in motion. Here we find raw sensations, the longings and hurts, the passions and fears that we have not allowed ourselves to feel. When we pull away from the energetic basis of our experience, we turn away from the truth of what is. We make a terrible bargain. When we separate from the felt sense of our pain, we also separate from the visceral experience of love that allows for true intimacy with others. We cut ourselves off from the sensory aliveness that connects us with the natural world. When there is unlived life, we can’t take good care of ourselves, our children, our world.

The feelings you are trying to ignore are like a screaming child who has been sent to her room. You can put earplugs in and barricade yourself in the farthest end of the house, but the body and the unconscious mind don’t forget. Maybe you feel tension or guilt. Maybe…. you are baffled by intimacy or haunted by a sense of meaninglessness. Maybe you fixate on all the things you need to get done. You can’t live in a spontaneous way because your body and mind are still reacting to the presence of your distressed child. Everythingy ou do to ignore her, including becoming numb, only strengthens your link with her. Your very felt sense of who you are …is fused with the experience of pushing away a central part of your life or running from it.

In shutting down the passion, hurt and pain she had experienced as a young girl whose precious hair was butchered, Jane had locked herself into a numb and anxious fragment of who she was. Yet something in her was calling her to live more fully. By beginning to contact her body’s experience, by touching ground, she was opening the door to what she had been running from.

Traumas of this kind may seem inconsequential, but really they are not. Something was done to us we didn’t want or need and had no power over and feelings do remain. The true self in Jane probably loved her long hair, it wasn’t all just about ego and looking a certain way, hair does hold our power and is connected to our heads which are such a vital part of our being. To be subjected to something that upset us and then to be laughed at for reacting (as Jane was) leaves a scar and a powerful subliminal message. Going numb to it does not mean the feelings go away, they need to be dealt with, with compassion and sensitivity.

Lack of clear perception into our selves often comes from our early environment and deficits in mirroring. If we consider generational and collective impacts too many of our parents and their parents and parents parents were engaged in a process of survival. Attention was tied up with outer, rather than inner concerns and losses may have made one parent less emotionally available to them, leaving psychic and emotional deficits and burdens. The research and work I have quoted from in previous posts from Mark Wolynn on multi generational trauma(It Didn’t Start With You) addresses these issues in some way and shows how people tend to disconnect from parents in this situation, feeling hurt, betrayed abandoned or let down, often rightly so. However there may be so much more to their story we never get to know.

Once we become more aware that our emotionally unavailable parents laboured under very real deficits, deficits that they passed down to us we can begin to take steps to address what we carry and hopefully become more aware of when and how we may have become self absorbed ourselves.

According to Nina Brown, author of Children of the Self Absorbed, the first step to reduce self absorbed behaviors is to accept that we may have absorbed some of them from our parents. She outlines ten key behaviors associated with self absorption we may need to address or work upon as follows :

An attitude of entitlement. Feeling that you deserve preferential treatment. That you can do or say whatever you like to others and that they shoud not be upset. The idea you deserve special consideration or treatment. Insensitivity to others.

Attention seeking. Behaviors such as talking loudly when it will disturb others. Dressing just for attention. Trying to distract or upstage others. Starting fights. Interrupting ongoing conversations. Dropping hints and teasers. (All with the intent to gain outside validation that you are significant, important, different to or better than others, or to reassure yourself that you are worthwhile, or to ease chronic self doubt.)

Admiration seeking. Yearning for reassurance you are valued through different means including the attainment of material or ‘status’ symbols.

Grandiosity. Taking over in situations where it is not called for. Feeling you are inherently superior to others. Arrogance. Displaying contempt. Failure to value the opinions of others. Acting big as a defence against feeling small or shameful inside.

An impoverished self. This is the self that feels deprived, ignored, abandoned or unnurtured or treated unfairly. And this is all a matter of perception for as Brown points out me may not have a lot of support but still feel we are supported by the Universe. Focusing on weaknesses or what you do not have instead of what you do. Lack of ability to take constructive action to fix or address what you can.

Lack of Empathy. Restricted or limited ability to sense what another person is experiencing inwardly in a specific situation without becoming enmeshed in their feeling or experience or reactions or overwhelmed by them. Being able to hear and sense what lies behind words and actions… the real message behind the words. (Brown notes we cannot be empathic with everyone all of the time and at times being too open to negative or toxic feelings can be inappropriate. Brown says “Many adults who were not subject to a parent with a Destructive Narcissistic Pattern.. are able to be empahic with many people some of the time. “)

Seeing Others As Extensions of Self. According to Brown “the self absorbed person is only dimly aware of other people in the world as separate and distinct from her (or him), and at the unconscious level thinks others exist to serve her (or him). The self absorbed person sees everything in terms of self, as if they were the only real person in the world.” This leads to : lack of respect for other’s possessions and boundaries, making decisons that affect others without consultation, making choices and decisions for others who are able to decide for themselves, touching things that belong to others without permission. Asking overly personal questions.

Needing to be percieved as unique and special by others. Everyone needs to know they are unique, special and worthy but when self absorbed this is taken to an extreme, or acted upon in a demanding way. This relates to having an extra high opinion of oneself that is not based in fact. It can lead to a lack of respect for others needs and rights. It can result in criticism of others faults and flaws. Making comparisons that put them up and the other person down. Blaming others for getting in the way. Needing to be complimented or praised first.

Exploitation of Others This involves using other to gain benefit, coupled with the conviction that others are not as worthy. Taking advantage of another person’s kind, generous or caring nature, desire to please or need for approval just to serve the self. Expecting favours without reciprocation. Lying, cheating, misleading. Using “if you loved me or cared about me” to manipulate others

Shallow Emotions. Adults with healthy narcissism can experience and express a wide and deep variety of emotions. In contrast, self absorbed adults are extremely limited in experiencing and expressing their feelings. Experiencing for them seems to be mainly limited to fear and anger and while they have the words when expressing other feelings, they don’t have the accompanying emotions. These people are not genuine in their expression of feelings, except for the variations of fear and anger. To get an idea of your range and level for experiencing emotions Nina recommends an exercise in which you make a list of each hour in the day and beside each time portion list all the feelings you remember experiencing. Beside the list of feelings list the names of people you expressed the feelings to. Review how open you were in either expressing or not expressing them. Did you have much variablity in what you felt? Did you primarily express negative feelings? Did you have an expansive or limited vocabulary for your emotions?

Emptiness at the Core of Self. Arises when children become isolated and lack meaningful connection to others. When we are not received as kids we don’t develop a strong connection to and faith in the Universe. The capacity for experiencing and understanding our feelings may be severely limited as a result. If we were not shown compassion we cannot feel it for ourselves. If we are focused on our emptiness and hurt we are robbed of seeing the beauty and wonder around us. We feel separate and disconnected and so emptiness grows. Experiencing ‘holes’ and then reaching to substances or unfulfilling activities to feel ‘full’.

Bear in mind when reading this list that there is a difference between being self absorbed and self reflective. It’s only natural that when we didnt get want we needed we would dig in and come to mistrust or not understand where others are coming from. I have written another post to follow this one soon on the distinction between self absorption and self reflection. People with destructive or malignant narcissism cannot self reflect or introspect, they tend to attack or blame often out of the narrow range of feeling, Brown speaks about in her book. We are, in healing and becoming more self aware learning to strike a balance, its painstaking work.

This is the final installment which follows on from two earlier posts on the header subject and contains exerpts that come from Chapter 6 of Nina Brown’s book Children of the Self Absorbed : A Grown Up’s Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic Parents.

Change of Pace

(We can) become so stuck in one or more routines that (we) limit (ourselves) from expanding (our) horizons, meeting new people or challenges, learning and developing (our) resources and talents, and limiting our choices. Thus, (we) place restraints on (ourselves) and limit (our) personal growth and development in some ways. An occasional change of pace can energize (us) and (our) thoughts in many ways, enrich (our) inner self, and provide for wonder and beauty in (our) life.

This is not to say that (we) should disrupt (our) life and do away with (our) routines. Such routines are beneficial. For example, I do my writing in the morning, shortly after I wake up. I first read the paper and have a cup of coffee. After that I pick up my pad and pen and begin to write. You want to maintain your constructive routines.

A change of pace is not a major disruption, it is doing something different on a trial basis to see if it is right for you, energizing in some way, or has other positive outcomes. It can be almost anything that is different from your usual routine.

Mindfulness

Becoming mindful teaches our valuable concentration that can help you stay focused on what is truly important in your life. This can be very helpful to you in interactions with your self absorbed parent, where your heightened emotional state can be distracting, even disabling. Once you get distracted or lost, you’re left with the same old feelings.

Mindfulness is done with conscious thought and intention. You expand your awareness in the moment and notice, appreciate, and even sometimes savour what you are experiencing. This awareness allows you to notice things you didn’t notice before, being something into clearer focus, sort through confusing stimuli and zoom in on important aspects, reduce some anxiety, and help you feel more in control. For example, lets suppose after by becoming more mindful you notice and experience the following with your self absorbed parent :

Your parent is saying the usual hurtful things, but you are not confused about why he is doing this and are able to see the fear your parent has of becoming old and no longer in control.

The words used by your parent seem meaningless and inaccurate and, although designed to hurt you, are bouncing off you like ball bearings bouncing off a wall.

You are able to discern your parent’s anxiety without taking it on or even feeling that you must fix it.

You are becoming aware that a role shift is in process, and that your parent is fighting but is also consciously unaware of it.

You leave the interaction less upset and stressed than usual.

Mindfulness allows you both to expand and contract. You expand your awareness and contract your focus. Practice the following exercise as many times as you possibly can throughout your day. It doesn’t take long to do it, but you can do it as long as you wish.

Developing Mindfulness

Procedure: This excercise can be done sitting, standing, reclining, walking and so on. However it is best to be alone in a quiet place.

Empty your mind.

Don’t fight intrusive thoughts.

Concentrate on your breathing and how this makes you feel. Try to slow your breath.

Become aware of your body, its tense spots, and its pleasurable spots.

Focus on what you are experiencing, doing and feeling. Stay with that and expand your awareness of sensations – seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting.

Notice colors, shapes, forms, sounds, and how your body feels.

Continue your expansion as long as you wish.

Reduce your Self Absorption

This suggestion is the basis for entire books on narcissism, but we’ll only touch on the subject in his book The major premise for this suggestion is that sef absorbed behavior and attitudes are not constructive or helpful. It is important to remember that, just as your self absorbed parent cannot see his (or her) undeveloped narcissism, you are unaware of behaviors and attitudes you have that are reflective of undeveloped narcissism. Your undeveloped narcissism can do the following:

Prevent you from detoxifying yourself.

Inhibit you from developing sufficient boundary strength.

Keep you in a position where you can be easily wounded.

Interfere with developing and maintaining meaningful and satisfying relationships.

Get in the way of your reaching out and connecting to others.

Keep you in a defensive state all of the time.

Be aware that (reducing self absorption) is a life long endeavour and that you are mostly unaware of your self absorbed behaviors and attitudes, but they do have a significant effect on your self and on your relationships.

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Facing the fact that we too are self aborbed is difficult. In one way we need self absorption for a time in order to delve into what is going on inside and understand how and why we are reacting as we do. However it is now proven by research into mental health and happiness that happiness rests upon being able to sustain healthy mutual life giving, love filled connections with others. This ability to connect is what is primarily wounded or undeveloped in narcissism and if we were raised with emotional neglect or by self absorbed wounded parents. Learning to reach out and connect and show empathy and understanding to and of others is a life time work. But it has great rewards.